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                                                <p>April 17, 2015 -- Imagine being sick in the hospital with a <a href="http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/bacterial-and-viral-infections" onclick="return sl(this,&#39;&#39;,&#39;embd-lnk&#39;);">bacterial infection</a> and doctors can&#39;t stop it from spreading. This so-called &#34;superbug&#34; scenario is not science fiction. It&#39;s an urgent, worldwide worry that is prompting swift action.</p>
                                                <p xmlns:xalan="http://xml.apache.org/xalan">Every year, about 2 million people get sick from a superbug, according to the CDC. About 23,000 die. Earlier this year, an outbreak of CRE (carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae) linked to contaminated medical tools sickened 11 people at two Los-Angeles area hospitals. Two people died, and more than 200 others may have been exposed.</p>
                                                <p>The White House recently released a <a onclick="return sl(this,&#39;&#39;,&#39;embd-lnk&#39;);" href="http://www.webmd.com/click?url=https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/national_action_plan_for_combating_antibotic-resistant_bacteria.pdf">comprehensive plan</a> outlining steps to combat drug-resistant bacteria. The plan identifies three &#34;urgent&#34; and several &#34;serious&#34; threats. We asked infectious disease experts to explain what some of them are and when to worry.</p>
                                                
                                                
                                                
                                                
                                                <h3>But First: What&#39;s a Superbug? </h3>
                                                <p>It&#39;s a term coined by the media to describe bacteria that cannot be killed using multiple <a href="http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/rm-quiz-antibiotics-myths-facts" onclick="return sl(this,&#39;&#39;,&#39;embd-lnk&#39;);">antibiotics</a>. &#34;It resonates because it&#39;s scary,&#34; says Stephen Calderwood, MD, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. &#34;But in fairness, there is no real definition.&#34;</p>
                                                <p>Instead, doctors often use phrases like &#34;multidrug-resistant bacteria.&#34; That&#39;s because a superbug isn&#39;t necessarily resistant to all antibiotics. It refers to bacteria that can&#39;t be treated using two or more, says Brian K. Coombes, PhD, of McMaster University in Ontario.</p>
                                                <p>Any species of bacteria can turn into a superbug.</p>
                                                <p>Misusing antibiotics (such as taking them when you don&#39;t need them or not finishing all of your medicine) is the &#34;single leading factor&#34; contributing to this problem, the CDC says. The concern is that eventually doctors will run out of antibiotics to treat them.</p>
                                                <p>&#34;What the public should know is that the more antibiotics you’ve taken, the higher your superbug risk,&#34; says Eric Biondi, MD, who runs a program to decrease unnecessary antibiotic use. &#34;The more encounters you have with the hospital setting, the higher your superbug risk.&#34;</p>
                                                <p>&#34;Superbugs should be a concern to everyone,&#34; Coombes says. &#34;Antibiotics are the foundation on which all modern medicine rests. Cancer <a href="http://www.webmd.com/cancer/chemotherapy-what-to-expect" onclick="return sl(this,&#39;&#39;,&#39;embd-lnk&#39;);">chemotherapy</a>, <a href="http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/organ-donation-facts" onclick="return sl(this,&#39;&#39;,&#39;embd-lnk&#39;);">organ transplants</a>, surgeries, and <a href="http://www.webmd.com/baby/guide/delivery-methods" onclick="return sl(this,&#39;&#39;,&#39;embd-lnk&#39;);">childbirth</a> all rely on antibiotics to prevent infections. If you can&#39;t treat those, then we lose the medical advances we have made in the last 50 years.&#34;</p>
                                                <p>Here are some of the growing superbug threats identified in the 2015 White House report.</p>
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